IVF Pregnancy Club- spring/summer 2026

[pastelheart]

Wanted to start a thread for anyone expecting after IVF and due next spring/summer

I am finding it quite daunting after infertility for 4 years and then a round of IVF to now be FINALLY expecting in June 2026, can hopefully chat with anyone else in the same boat

@backtotheicsi🩷

@CloudyIvy55 I totally get this but am also super hopeful all will be well and you can toast a very exciting new year come midnight (not that I personally will still be awake then!). I have mine on 17th - and then an obs consultant appt (not sure why but I assume just from doing ivf) on NYE at 2pm! Currently thinking about requesting a C-section so will be anxious about how resistant they might be about that… shall see.

@SarahAndQuack Hey! Congratulations! I also relate to the feeling of wtf is this actually happening?! The replacement anonymous donor sounds like a smart choice… sorry you went through that with your friend. He sounds like an ignorant idiot tbh! Glad your EPU scare resolved well and hope you can keep gardening for most of your pregnancy. Great about the positive response to the hormones and long may that last! I am greatly enjoying not having periods and hormonal migraines… even if acid reflux is trying to kill my oesophagus with fire.

@Backtotheicsi How worrying but hopefully all is fine. Good luck for Wednesday! Sorry you have such an anxious wait… bleurgh!

@nosejug Hurrah for your scan and the ratio of doom swinging around! Mine has too for the first time. I am still anxious but am really trying to lean into the excitement and joy when I feel it else what is the point really?

@MugOfMildDoom I know you have understandably left the board but just in case you see this I am so sorry your pregnancy ended this way. I wish you all the very best for your next try.

Back from my 32w growth scan. All
looking good, baby weighing 4lb 8oz and measuring 4 days ahead.

Hey everyone, how are you all?

I think I am getting poorly, I have a huge ulcer under my tongue that is making eating hard and I have a head cold too ☹️ hopefully it doesn’t get any worse as currently I can still just about function.

what has everyone got planned for the weekend? My partner is going to watch the rugby this afternoon so I plan on sorting the house this morning and then napping all afternoon, cannot wait!

xxx

Thanks everyone for the nice good scan messages!

And hello @pastelheart :) my partner is away for the weekend and I am gonna hang out with my 5 and 7 year old niece and nephew at my parents house. Hopefully I’ll be treated to the same snacks they are. I woke at 1am today lol, just so unreasonable. Managed to sleep again around 4-5 but I don’t have the napping superpower! I’m also in an ‘eek my symptoms are awfully light’ moment but this happened a week ago for a couple of days and then everything returned so just hoping to feel sick again soon lol. 9 weeks today 🌞

I was really sorry to read your update but didn’t want to tag you mugofmilddoom as I’m late to respond and understand needing to close things off. I hope the next time is your time.

@Nosejug ahhhh I hope you get all the good snacks!! I have added snack breaks to my work calendar and my team know not to contact me in these times 😂😂 my sickness went away for a couple of days and I freaked out… it came back strong a few days later and I was relieved!

I went out with my family last night for a meal and saw all of my cousins and their partners so was nice telling them about the baby… well I say telling… I didn’t tell them with words I showed them with my bump as I couldn’t hide it lol xx

I can’t wait to get more of a bump anyone who knows can tell but I wear baggy clothes mostly so hard to tell.
im still feeling sick and I am so frustrated its making me not want to do anything. Ugh. It had gone by now last time and waiting for 14 weeks has got me through now I’m worried this is for the full time. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful but it’s so much harder than last time.
hope you’ve all had a nice weekend xx

Hope everyone's had a lovely weekend.

@magpie234 - OMG, yes, not having periods is brilliant! Sorry to hear about the acid reflux.

@dubkitten ooh! How exciting! It must be so lovely to see that. Sounds like a great weight, too!

@pastelheart, I'm so glad you had something nice to make up for that ulcer - that sounds horrible! I hope it's getting better now too.

@Nosejug, I hope you had a lovely restful time with plenty of good snacks!

I've had my parents this weekend - my mum is excited and I think she's starting to feel more at home with things now. She was really thrown by me finding it hard to stay pregnant as it'd been so straightforward to her. Now I think she finds it easier to chat to me about it as she can share her memories of this stage much more straightforwardly.

How soon did people buy pregnancy jeans? I'm not noticing it in anything else, but my jeans are just the wrong shape! I keep finding the zip works its way down through the day. I tried on an old pair that's a size or two up and it didn't seem to help somehow - it's the shape of where I'm bulging, if that makes sense. I was hoping Jojo would have pregnancy jeans I could try on, but everywhere seems to be online. Would they just be far too huge at 10 weeks? (Stupid question since everyone's 10 weeks is different, but I'd still be grateful for thoughts!)

We cross posted - so sorry to hear this! I don't think it sounds ungrateful. We're allowed to find it hard even if it is hard-won, surely?

I really sympathise as I'm also annoyed as I don't look remotely pregnant but my clothes fit wrong - worst of both worlds! I think it's the bruises from the blood thinners that make me feel really aware of it.

@SarahAndQuack thqnks lovely you’re right it can be amazing and hard at the same time!

I would go for it no time like the present to try them. Me personally I’m on the primark leggings and baggy tops 😂 I’ve already put on over a stone since starting my ivf so it’s been needed unfortunately. Trying not to think about it I wouldn’t have checked by the woman at my last appointment was shouting it for the roof tops lol

@SarahAndQuack I had to do a big order of maternity clothes last week, but some of it (jeans and leggings) are a bit big still, I don’t think the jeans will stay up atm lol so I am going to have to stick to normal leggings and lounge wear for the next few weeks at least. I went out for dinner on Friday and I bought a skirt and bodysuit and just sized up and that fitted okay on Friday (was a bit tight after dinner though) so I think in a few weeks the maternity stuff will fit okay.

I ordered mine from boohoo and it’s all really nice and wasn’t stupidly expensive, they have a good sale on atm xx

Sorry guys I’m still dying in bed 😭 I will catch up on all the other messages when my head doesn’t hurt as much xox

I'm 15 weeks and don't see a bump yet - trying not worry about that but of course I am 😂 lovely that some of you have got some maternity clothes and bits. I still can't get myself to buy anything pregnancy or baby related.

@CloudyIvy55 I really relate and have only recently started feeling more excited than anxious (still very anxious) and able to buy things and start planning a bit more. That and that my clothes are starting not to fit so I have to…

They are spenny but I really recommend the Lululemon Super High Rise Align leggings in the sale - pretty sure I will be living in these most days for at least the next year or so. I have also snapped up some stretchy knitted dresses in the sales as think they look cute with a bump and boots. Not bothering with jeans as I find it hard enough to find the right-fitting jeans when not pregnant (I have swayback so there is always gaping). I am into fashion normally and my work is mostly based around it so I knew this would be something I would struggle with!

@pastelheart and @Backtotheicsi I so hope you feel a lot better soon! It is definitely fine to find it both hard and amazing… I largely hate being pregnant but could also not be more grateful for what it means.

I really relate to the 'can't bring myself' bit! I feel superstitious about it (and I am not superstitious at all!).

Annoyingly, I don't have anything remotely resembling a bump - just a really bloody sore bruised patch! You couldn't possibly tell I'm pregnant. I think it's normal, isn't it? Especially a first pregnancy that's gone this far (is yours?).

And thanks for recs @Backtotheicsi and @pastelheart. I love leggings but I need jeans for work - if I'm pruning stuff (lots of pruning atm) leggings just get ripped on the thorns/sharp bits.

@SarahAndQuacki have heard H&M is good for maternity clothes too and asos xx

How's everyone doing?

I had my booking-in appointment ... no one warned me it takes 90 minutes! When she said at the start we'd be there for an hour and a half I was absolutely stunned; I thought it'd be 15 minutes and out.

It all feels a bit real now.

@SarahAndQuack omg yes they are so long and I’m so glad my partner was there too as I wouldn’t of had a clue on some of the family history questions for him 😂 I would of had to use you’re a few phone a friends 😂

all good here thank you, feeling less poorly today which is a relief. How are you? X

Well, I had no idea about the biological father questions, as mine's a sperm donor!

What was worse was that she had to ask me about my past reproductive history - I had a series of miscarriages in my 20s but honestly, I try not to think about them and they're so long ago now, I couldn't remember the exact months they happened. She was very nice about it but it took ages and I did find that rough, which is silly. There was a young student midwife with her who looked about 17 (I know she will have been a perfectly respectable age!) and I didn't half feel geriatric talking about it in front of her.

I'm so glad you're feeling less ill today. I hope you're still getting plenty of TLC to help you over the last bits of it.

@SarahAndQuackoh yeah, so did they not ask you any questions in regards to that? What info do you know about the sperm donor? If I am being intrusive then tell me to be quiet, you don’t have to answer I just don’t know very much about the sperm donor route

ah yeah they want a full history don’t they, not silly at all it’s hard talking about things that were difficult.

I had to try and remember details from my pregnancy and labour 12 years ago… I was like ummmmm pass I can’t remember lol

i was hoping to get an early night but no such luck ☹️☹️ xx

Ugh, sympathy! I can't sleep either. I couldn't keep my eyes open earlier and had a nap, and now I'm paying for it.

You're not being intrusive - I don't mind talking about it at all; to me it's just natural as my DD was a sperm donor baby as well (with my female ex-partner). They tell you to talk a lot to your child about it so that they grow up feeling there's no big secret, so we always have. Anyway - I mean, I know the sperm bank screen for some genetic conditions and I could have looked up bits of it, but actually the midwife was quite happy putting down 'not known'. I know you can sometimes get in touch with them via the clinic if there's some really good reason to need to know a bit of genetic history.

Anyway, I know this donor has dark hair and dark eyes (I wanted blue eyes because DD is blue-eyed, but there weren't any that wrote nice things and that mattered to me!). He likes Chinese dumplings and so does DD, so for that deeply logical and significant reason, I liked him. And he wrote nice things about his family and himself. But I really didn't want to over-think; I just went with my gut reaction to what he said.

(I am finding it very reassuring you've forgotten labour btw! Keep telling me that! )

@SarahAndQuack yeah I think my all day napping yesterday is not working out currently lol 😂 I think im also getting nervous about our scan on Wednesday too and if I have anything on my mind then sleep does not find me! Are you the same?

honestly, when you introduced yourself and mentioned your daughter I had to read it a few times to understand what you meant but I am glad I was correct in my assumption, I didn’t want to ask you though as that really did feel intrusive in my first message to you 😂 that’s lovely that they encourage you to speak about it with your children and that it isn’t a secret. And well dumplings… I understand your logic and it’s good logic. The nice things that he wrote also is lovely, I am sure you chose the perfect person 🩷

ummmm well I had a straightforward first labour but it really was the worst thing that has ever happened to me… but a few days later I was telling everyone it was the best thing ever so those post birth hormones are 10/10
my birth plan this time is- epidural at the earliest opportunity as I accidentally did it all last time with no pain relief and I wasn’t impressed 🙃 was only in labour about 2 hours though so I must of done something right! Xx

The nerves leading up to a scan are horrible, aren't they? Are you nervous about something particular or just generally? I'm definitely a bad sleeper when I'm worried - but I also think my body clock is just really out at the moment!

And thanks for that lovely reply! I hope he was the right person too! I know my history is a bit confusing to read - the midwife today was impressively unfazed but she did have to ask a lot of questions and I didn't even get into doing a round of IVF with a gay male friend into the bargin. I think basically if there's a way of trying for a baby that exists in the world, I have given it a shot!

No pain relief sounds absolutely terrifying - you must be so hardcore! Definitely understand the plan for the epidural early on this time around. 2 hours is really fast, too.

I must try to get some actual sleep - hope you manage to turn in soon too, and have a restful night! xx

Just in general I think, that the baby has stopped growing or that there is something wrong. I think after this one which is my 12 week I will be much better… I hope so anyway! Yeah my sleep hasn’t been the best (not that is ever that great, I wake up a lot during the night) but it’s deff been worse in pregnancy

he 100% will be the right person… dumplings are going to be the first thing you give your baby during weaning right?? I still can’t get over your ex friend, honestly horrible what he did but look where you are now!

the pain relief really wasn’t by choice… the epidural man walked in about 5 mins after I had him and I told him to get out. And 100% not hardcore, I tried to leave half way through, as in ripped the IV’s out and said I’m tapping out 😂 I am very dramatic. I feel sorry for my partner as he isn’t going to know what’s hit him LOL

I was up every hour 😓 I hope you slept better than me and have a lovely day xx